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Today with everything urban and public perpetually in crisis, we turn towards the figures who shaped our cities and left a legacy of public spaces. This work reevaluates those planners and their times in a series of essays.
An overview of the many missions that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CoE) have performed in support of the Army and the nation since the early days of the Amer. Revolution. This heavily illustrated history looks at the role of the CoE in times of war as well as in building projects in the U.S. and other nations. Includes chapters on explorations and surveys, lighthouses, hydropower development, flood control, waterway development, the Panama Canal, the environmental challenge, the Manhattan Project, the space program, and changing military responsibilities and relationships. Portraits and profiles of the CoE's highest ranking officers are also included.
The first book to focus on the differences in wealth between women and men, Mariko Lin Chang draws on the most comprehensive national data on wealth and on in-depth interviews to show how differences in earnings, in saving and investing, and, most important, the demands of care-giving all contribute to the gender-wealth gap. A comprehensive portrait of where women and men stand with respect to wealth, Shortchanged not only sheds light on why women lack wealth, but also offers solutions for improving the financial situation of women, men, and families.
In recent years, the number of presidential declarations of “major disasters” has skyrocketed. Such declarations make stricken areas eligible for federal emergency relief funds that greatly reduce their costs. But is federalizing the costs of disasters helping to lighten the overall burden of disasters or is it making matters worse? Does it remove incentives for individuals and local communities to take measures to protect themselves? Are people more likely to invest in property in hazardous locations in the belief that, if worse comes to worst, the federal government will bail them out? Disasters and Democracy addresses the political response to natural disasters, focusing specifically on the changing role of the federal government from distant observer to immediate responder and principal financier of disaster costs.
In Susquehanna, River of Dreams award-winning journalist Susan Q. Stranahan tells the sweeping story of one of America's great rivers – ranging in time from the Susquehanna's geologic origins to the modern threats to its eco-system, describing human settlements, industry and pollution, and recent efforts to save the river and its "drowned estuary," the Chesapeake Bay. The result is a unique natural history of the vast Susquehanna watershed and a compelling look at environmental issues of national importance.
Many Americans today view the government as the savior of the environment. When it comes to protecting land, fish, and wildlife, the common response is to let government do it. The contributors to Government Versus the Environment encourage us to consider government in a different light by looking at clear instances of public programs that foster environmental destruction. They provide an in-depth look at of how the political process can adversely impact the quality of our environment and argue that the government's track record in managing natural resources has been and continues to be abysmal. The case studies in Government Versus the Environment will cause readers to think twice about the all-too-familiar calls for more government for the sake of the environment.
This is the first concise introduction to emergency management, the emerging profession that deals with disasters from floods and earthquakes to terrorist attacks. Coverage includes: --The history of emergency management and its evolution from volunteer effort to trained intervention; --Organization of emergency management systems -- local, state, regional, national, international; governmental, for-profit, and nonprofit; --Managing natural disasters -- floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, avalanches, etc.; --Managing manmade disasters -- civil defense, terrorism, hazardous materials accidents, fires, structural failures, nuclear accidents, transportation disasters; --Policy issues in the management of risk, emergencies, and disasters; --Disaster management in the Twenty-first Century-- technological and political challenges. Twenty case studies illustrate the handling of actual disasters including the Northridge Earthquake and the Oklahoma City Bombing. Discussion questions and guides to on-line information sources facilitate use of the book in the classroom and professional training programs.